Makers Fair 2009

SILAS SAYS: The Makers Fair so fun because we got to see these boats from WWI and WWII battle with little bb's. It wasn't very exciting because only one ship sunk and two pieces blew off of two other ships. We got to see this metal hand pick up a stove 20 or 30 feet in the air and drop it. It tore up the stove so much, it just tore it up. It was fun because Ben-O came with us. We got to see the life size version of the game mouse trap. It took them 15 or 16 years the mouse trap and it takes them 4 days to set it up. There is this one room where there is like computers, printers and other electronics. There is also screwdrivers, wire cutters, and other tools to help you tear them apart and then make something out of it.

JASPER SAYS: The Makers Fair was really fun because we went with Ben and there was so many really cool things. There was a really cool hand that crushed a stove and a couple 55 gallon drums. The hand worked when someone put their hand in this metal thing and moved their fingers and it mover the big hand. There was also a little boat battle, where people made boats and they put them in the water. They had little turrets with bb-guns and they shot at each other to try to sink each other. To sink the other boat, you had to penetrate the balsa wood hull. There was a lot of cool thing at the Makers Fair and I enjoyed all of them.

Another Sunny Weekend

SILAS SAYS: Standing up on the surfboard was so fun, but I have only done it three times in my life. I was able to stand up on the board today because the waves were small and I was trying to stand up quicker. Before I took my ride on the wave to stand, but it was easier today because I got up quicker. We made this giant merman it was about 5 to 6 feet tall.



JASPER SAYS: I feel glad because SySy is learning to stand up surfing. Over the weekend we went to the beach almost every day. One day we went to the beach and made a giant merman king and the next day we just went to the beach and surfed and boogie boarded. George, Rachel, Leah, and the Horowitz family came to the beach with us both days. It was very sunny that weekend. When I was surfing for the whole weekend it made me super dooper dooper dooper tired. Goodnight.

Oholone Time Machine

JASPER SAYS: For my school project I had to do an Ohlone test. The Ohlone are a Native American tribe. Their borders are from present day San Francisco to present day Monterrey. We have been studying the Ohlone for a long time. I also had to do a diorama. Most people did a diorama on a flat surface, but I did mine on the computer. I made huts, acorn granaries, tule sun shades, tule canoes, and fish racks in the program SketchUp. I put them on Google Earth when I was done. The pictures below are the results of my project.

Silas Beach Day

SILAS SAYS: I got this giganto rash on my neck. I actually stood up on a surfboard. On my first wave I fell over to the side. On the second wave I almost stood up. On my third wave I pearled, which means I went off the board and tumbled and turned over. On my very, very last wave I stood up. When I standed up to surf, I have never standed up on a surfboard ever, and I actually figured out how much fun it was. I also took two waves boogie boarding. I am going to surf more now, but my boogie boarding kind of the same. And I played with Lukie. And I found this crab shell and it actually had eyes.

Big Sur(f) Spring

Big Sur was amazing. We went to the southern part of Big Sur to Plaskett Creek campground. I had been here a year an a half ago and froze in the wind and fog. For this trip it was all sun. 7 dads and 11 kids and 3 days of sun. nice gentle breezes, wonderful remote surf spots, including one BIG day at Willow Creek. We also planted 2 letterboxes and found seven on our way down in Carmel and along the Big Sur coast. We packed the car up at 9am on Tuesday and then it started to rain. We made it to Carmel and then heard the storm closed the road. It was a blessed trip.

School Field Trip to PetCo

SILAS SAYS: It was so fun at PetCo because we got to look at reptiles like snakes and we go to pet and albino baby king snake. We got to pet some other snakes and we got to pet guinea pigs and chinchillas and we got to look at fish. We walked there from our school and there we got these pictures of this Easter thing and who ever colors the best picture wins the Easter contest. Then they will give them a gift card.

Ohlone Skills

JASPER SAYS: These are pictures of when I went to Lake Merced with class to do Ohlone skills. The Ohlone were the native people of San Francisco. We have been studying them for a pretty long time now. We have learned a lot about their culture, where they lived, how they traded, and and how they made food and weapons. Learning about the Ohlone is fun.

This is me holding the lizard that I caught at Lake Merced.

This is me shooting an example of an Ohlone bow and arrow.

This is me playing an Ohlone game where you have to throw the spear through the hoop.

This is me grinding walnuts the way the Ohlone did, but they didn't use that exact mortar and pestle. They used ones made out of granite. Mr. Rich has a real Ohlone mortar and pestle. They also did not grid walnuts they ground acorns.

This is me trying to make fire the way Ohlone did. We have never made fire because you have to work a long time. Mr. Rich has actually made fire before, I think. I made smoke.

This is me setting up a trap that I made up. I thought this was suppose to be the kind of trap that the Ohlone made, but it wasn't.

This is Mr. Rich and our class putting water over the walnut flour to pretend that we are trying to remove the tanic acid in the acorns, but we were using walnuts. The way you get the tanic acid out is by putting grass over the ground, then pouring the acorn flour over the grass, and then pouring water over the flour.